A Good Day Until It Wasn't
by Sonic Jules
Summary: A nice trip to a planet with some nasty plants leads the Doctor and Rose into a very long day with a couple of unexpected and unpleasant surprises. Two chapters total.
1. But It Looked So Charming

**A Good Day Until It Wasn't**

**By Sonic Jules**

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**A/N**: A special thanks to Catharticone, who not only gave me this idea with a prompt, but beta'd it as well. Her suggestions helped make it what it is, and here's the result.

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**Chapter One:**

**But It Looked So Charming...**

**.**

It had been a beautiful outing, and the Doctor and Rose had enjoyed the flora and fauna alike as they walked along the landscape, seeing the tranquil planet of Viola at its summer peak. But then the vines - those silly, simple vines - had started reaching for them, needy and wanting for anything new with brainwaves and functioning thoughts for them to soak up. And they'd grown, fast and furiously as they chased Rose and him for several miles, wanting to touch their minds and consume their emotions and memories and anything else they could take telepathically.

Funny how he'd forgotten about those. Well, not funny in the "ha-ha" fashion, but funny in a strange, thought-provoking sort of way. He wondered if perhaps they'd touched his mind and made him forget. He had been thinking something warily about the planet as they stepped out and recognition had begun to strike, but then that thought had flitted away, and he and Rose had wandered long and far before the little poison ivy-looking vines had crept up after them. They had been sneaky, too. Practically surrounding the duo before they had even noticed the green lines of foliage nearing.

When they did notice, both Rose and the Time Lord inched slowly away, hoping to thwart the squirming worm-like growths from capturing them. However, in the end they had run the equivalent of a marathon; the speed of the green menace's chase was worthy of any animal cornering its prey.

The Doctor recalled that when they'd finally reached the TARDIS, one of the vines had grabbed his hand much like Rose did on a regular basis. He'd wiggled and jiggled a bit while pushing Rose through the doors, gaining her safety and his release from the plant all at once. They'd cheered, they'd hugged, and then they'd parted; he moving to the center console, taking them to the safety of the vortex, and she heading off to take a shower, plucking leaves from her clothes and hair as she headed down the corridor.

**O**o**O**

He stepped softly as he walked down the hallway, not wanting to disturb Rose in case she'd fallen asleep, but needing to check on her. He knew she was near exhaustion by the time they'd finally gotten back to the ship, but the Time Lord was quite the opposite; he was wound as tightly as a tick on a noseless Barcelonan dog. He needed to see her though, realizing that as easily as the vine had grabbed him, it could have touched her as well. He remembered her pulling leaves from her clothing and hair. What if the vine had touched Rose? If so, she could easily have a reaction of some sort. And asleep or not, he could still check her over. Maybe he'd wind down once he had knowledge of her well-being.

With that thought clouding his mind, the Doctor knocked lightly on Rose's door. It was partially open, though the lights were lowered for slumber.

"Wose? You awake?"

"Yeah, but the name's Rose, not Wose."

Hmm, she sounded a bit cranky. But of course she did, being exhausted and human and all. Regardless, she was awake, and that was an open invitation to enter her room as far as he was concerned.

As he walked into her room, the lights became brighter. The Doctor could definitely see the scowl still etched on Rose's face. But when her eyes met his, the scowl suddenly dissolved into a look which was a cross between fear and instant worry.

"Oh my God! What's happened to you? Doctor? Are you all right?"

He focused closely upon his companion, mildly worried about her sudden concern. "Course I'm all wight. Why would you ask that?"

"Have you had a look at yourself in a mirror?" she asked, her right finger pointing towards his face. She sat up straight, staring at him as if he'd grown a third eyeball. And here he'd thought he was more handsome with this tenth regeneration. Obligingly, he turned toward her dresser and looked at his reflection.

Oh. Perhaps a third lip, instead.

Bringing his hand to his upper lip, the Doctor stared at himself with much fascination, seeing his upper lip at least twice its normal size. His eyes then caught Rose as she stood up, bringing herself behind him.

"Can't believe you couldn't feel that," she commented, staring quite blatantly at the deformity.

"S'pose I'm still not used to these new teeth. Didn't feel all that stwange."

"Allergic reaction?" Rose guessed, watching as he touched the protrusion by poking it here and there with his left index finger.

"Mmm hmm," he replied distractedly, then turned himself around suddenly to face her. "Bwilliant, Wose! You awe simply so smawt, you awe!"

"Yeah, um, could you save the praisin' until after you've fixed that? Sounds kind of weird," she suggested.

The Doctor nodded. "Wight."

Taking her hand, he led Rose out into the corridor and straight down to the in Infirmary. As she watched, the Time Lord began looking through a few cupboards, pulling different items from each and pouring a little of each of those ingredients into a large stainless steel bowl - the first thing he'd removed.

She sat on the couch as he stirred the concoction quickly, then turned to her and smiled. At least she hoped that face he made was a happy one. The Doctor tilted the bowl toward Rose, letting her see the mixture as it turned white and fluffy, reminding her of whipped cream.

"All done. Now all that's left is applying it," he said almost jovially as he hefted a handful of the mixture towards his face, then began smearing it all over as if preparing for a shave. When he was finished, Rose tried unsuccessfully to quiet her giggles.

"You look like Santa Claus," she offered in between snorts.

"Weally?" he asked too innocently, gathering another handful of the goo as Rose burst into laughter. She closed her eyes, wiping beneath them with gentle fingertips.

When she looked up at him again, his aim was dead-on.

"Oi! What'd ya do that for?" she asked, using her fingers like windshield wiper blades across her eyelids to remove the goop.

"So that I wasn't the only one looking like Santa Claus. I'd say the look suits you. Whipped cream Rose. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

She looked at the Doctor, frozen for a couple of seconds, then smiled. "Hey! Your lip's gone down. That stuff works really quick, yeah?"

The Time Lord was beaming as he set the metal bowl down on the counter, then grabbed a couple of towels from nearby. "When you've got it - which I do, of course - you should flaunt it," he spoke through the cloth he used to wipe his face clean, throwing the other terry to Rose. She immediately began wiping away the smears on her skin as the Doctor turned away to throw his towel on the counter.

"And to think I was worried about you having a reaction to the vines, not even knowing if they had touched you or not. I suppose I'm not as immune to such things as I thought," the Doctor said as he put the silver bowl in a sink to the left of the counter top. When he turned back, his gaze fell on Rose with instant concern. Her skin had suddenly lost all color and her eyes were blinking rapidly, as if she were trying to force them to focus. The towel she'd used to wipe her face fell from her hand.

"Rose?"

She looked all around the room, her expression bewildered. Finally, her eyes met his. "I don' feel so good." Her body slumped sideways quite suddenly, luckily falling across the couch she sat upon rather than pitching toward the floor. The Doctor was beside her instantly.

"Rose!"

**O**o**O**


	2. Reactions and Guilt Do Not A Nice Pair M

**A Good Day Until It Wasn't**

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**Chapter Two:**

**Reactions and Guilt Do Not A Nice Pair Make...**

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Rose opened her eyes, finding herself on the couch in the Infirmary. The next thing she realized was a crater-sized headache, pulsing from within with the ferocity of a sledgehammer. She moaned, closing her eyes tightly as she lifted her hands towards her face, trying to block the light which seemed to intensify her pain.

"No Rose, don't touch," she heard the Doctor's voice as her wrists were gently taken hold of within his cool grasp and pulled back down to her sides. "Is the brightness causing you pain?" he asked, his tone soft and filled with concern.

Rose nodded a few times slowly, her eyes remaining forcefully closed.

"Lights low."

As the lights lowered, Rose opened her eyes slowly. The Doctor noted her respirations slowing, the pain caused by the light obviously alleviated, though he knew it was only minimal relief.

"Doctor? What's goin' on? What happened?"

He leaned over her until his eyes met hers. "You had a reaction to my cure, apparently. Developed a bit of a blistery rash where the mixture touched you skin and -"

"Blisters? You mean I've got blisters all over my face?" she asked, clearly panicked.

"No, not any more," he reassured her with softened tones. "I used the dermal regenerator. Your skin's good as new, perhaps more so now than before, actually. The dermis will be a little sensitive for a while though, what with being brand new and all. Same with your hands, though your index fingers were worse than the rest of your digits. Still, they're all better now. I was just getting a hypo ready for when you awoke. I'm going to presume you've got a bit of a migraine at the moment, am I right?"

"Yeah," Rose replied quietly with a slight nod of her head. There was no sense in denying it. "Why'd I have a reaction to your cure?"

"It was a chemical reaction. Your body reacted to the chlorohydroformiten, which for a Time Lord is wonderful when there is a reaction to anything which causes swelling. The chemical compound that I mixed together was a course of ingredients that alone wouldn't cause you harm, nor I. But blended together, they affected my cure for the reaction I had, and caused quite another reaction for you."

"Doctor?"

"Right. Well, when I," he paused, looking around the room for a moment as if gathering his thoughts, "thing is, when I threw the mixture on you, it was absorbed through your skin. Your body's chemistry didn't mix well with the chlorohydroformiten. Your systems began shutting down. That's why you felt so oddly just before you passed out. I was able to figure it out quickly enough, but not fix it fast enough to stop the blistering reaction at the point where the lotion made contact with your skin. The headache you're feeling right now is another side effect, but I have this," he walked toward the counter and returned a moment later, holding up a shiny silver hypodermic cylinder within her line of sight, "which will ease that almost instantly." He administered the medication to her left wrist, tossing the empty hypo into the rubbish bin beside the cabinet.

As his right hand held her wrist, his thumb began rubbing lightly over the injection site. "I'm so, so very sorry," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He lifted his left hand to cup her cheek, then began rubbing her hair gently back from her forehead. Her eyelids fluttered closed, enjoying his gentle petting. "I could have killed you, playing around like that. I was so stupid, and -"

Suddenly Rose's eyes opened wide, settling themselves on the Time Lord above her. "Oh no. You're not blamin' yourself for this, are you?"

"I am to blame," he answered quickly and abruptly. He turned then, suddenly busying himself with cleaning up the counter behind him.

Rose sat up - too quickly - and groaned at the wave of dizziness that swept over her.

"Rose?" He was suddenly back at her side. "You shouldn't be moving around like that. The medicine I administered to rid you of that headache is going to make you a bit light-headed for a while. Just a sedative with a touch of -"

"Doctor," Rose demanded his attention, holding onto his arms tightly. "You didn't do this on purpose. I mean, you had no idea I'd be allergic to that stuff. Please don't go blamin' yourself for this."

He looked at her, a sad grin on his face. "It's hard not to," he admitted.

"Well then, I guess it's my fault for wantin' to go to that planet to begin with. I'm the one that brought it up. I'm the one that begged you to take me there to see all the vegetation and wildlife and stuff I saw in that book that I found in the library. So really, if anyone's to blame ..."

The Doctor leaned in and kissed Rose on her forehead. "Point taken."

She released her death-grip on his arms then hugged him tightly. "Good." She pulled away from him slowly, looking at him from chucks to chin then settled her eyes on his. "But what about you? How are you feelin' now?"

"I feel fine. Never better. No malaise on my part, though you seemed to be experiencing it," he suggested, lifting an eyebrow. He sat down beside her.

"Are you? Really? Because seriously, I don't see what condiments have to do with anythin'."

"No Rose, not mayonnaise - oh. You're teasing me, aren't you?"

"Yeah." She leaned into him, her head resting on his shoulder. She yawned widely.

"Tired?"

"Mm hmm."

"Good. That means the medication is doing its job. A brand new day tomorrow after a bit of rest to start things fresh without any repercussions from today lingering about."

"Do I have to rest in here?" she asked, her tone practically pleading for another choice.

The Doctor looked at Rose for a moment, then grinned. "Suppose not. In fact, I'm sure you'd sleep better if you were in your own room. But I don't think with the dosage of sedative I gave you that you'll be able to walk very far. I'll have to carry you if that's where you want to go."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he grinned, jumping down from the couch. In no time he had her in his arms, and Rose had her arms wrapped around his neck, snuggling into his chest. A few minutes later, he had her in her room, all tucked in. She grinned affectionately at him through half-closed eyes. The injection he'd given her was doing its job perfectly.

The Doctor went into her bathroom and came out a few moments later, a glass of water in his hand that he set it down gently on the nightstand. Rose's eyes were closed and he thought perhaps she was sleeping. But when he turned away to seat himself in the chair across from her, she called softly to him.

"Doctor?"

"Yes? Are you comfortable? Can I get you anything - some water, perhaps?"

"Yeah. No. Want somethin' else, though," she replied sleepily.

"Hmm? What's that?" he spoke softly.

"Could you, you know, come over here for a while?" she asked, a small grin on her face as her eyes closed, no doubt enjoying the simple thought of him beside her.

The Doctor nodded, though Rose couldn't see him. He kicked off his chucks and took off his jacket, sitting himself softly beside her. He loosened his tie then undid the buttons on his shirt sleeves, rolling them up neatly a few times toward his elbows.

Looking at Rose, he saw the same grin still adorning her peaceful face. He lay down beside her, slowly so as not to jostle her. Like a magnet, she curled herself into him, snuggling down and resting her head on his chest. She inhaled deeply, releasing the breath like a sigh, then fell asleep, still grinning.

The Doctor smiled, allowing his eyes to close. He leaned forward and kissed her crown, then nestled himself down into the bed. Inhaling deeply, he released the breath like a sigh, allowing his body to relax until he, too, fell asleep, grateful this long day was done.

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**O**o**O**

**The End.**

**O**o**O**


End file.
